Chp.32: Stealing the portable gate (part 1)

As the battle raged outside the academy, Maldor quickly made her way to the research lab. With students and servants evacuated to the underground parts of the school, teachers out of action, and Hara busy with her sisters, there was no one to stand in her way and stop her from stealing the portable gate. All she had to do was enter the lab, steal it, and then escape using the invisibility rune. Before anyone noticed the theft, she would have reached the arena long ago and Haku would have been freed.

Once in front of the laboratory door, she pulled out a glove and put it on her hand. That glove contained Isaac's fingerprints, which she had taken from a cup of tea he had drunk. Obviously, possessing them wasn't enough: the fingers had to be arranged in a certain order on the door and moved rhythmically a couple of times through a specific code, which she obviously had memorized. Finally, in doing so, she had to introduce her mana into the door using a particular frequency.

If she missed even one step, the security system would trip and it would be nearly impossible for her to reach the portable gate; however, this was very unlikely, since Maldor had watched Isaac open the door many times while pretending to be blindfolded, and she, like any dragon, possessed a photographic memory. The only possibility that something could go wrong would be if due to the emergency situation someone had sealed the door, but that was very unlikely. And indeed, after she had entered the right code with her fingers and transferred her mana with the right frequency, the door swung open and the traps within the corridor deactivated.

When she arrived in front of the second door he touched it as she had done with the first; the process to open it was identical, but required a different code and frequency. Also, in that case he had to use Isaac's left hand prints, which had been more difficult to recover since the man wasn't ambidextrous. Again she had learned the entire process by heart, and she opened the door without difficulty. She found herself inside the laboratory, which was obviously deserted, and made her way towards the display case containing the portable gate.

Maldor knew that there was a magical barrier to protect it: if she tried to take it, a fire magic would immediately go off and burn her alive; while that wouldn't have killed her, it would still have destroyed her current body. To deactivate that fire magic it was necessary to break the ligaments of mana on the case, but to avoid this there was a second magic which, if it perceived that someone was interfering with the protection, triggered a freezing ray. Even then, it wouldn't be good for her: in this case it wouldn't destroy her body, but it would block it for a long, long time. Time that she clearly couldn't waste.

There was only one way to deactivate the two magics, and that was to cancel them both at the same time. Basically it was necessary to recite two spells at the same time, which was impossible for a single person. A thief who found themselves in that situation without knowing the trap in advance would surely be unable to do anything. But obviously Maldor was no ordinary thief: she knew the trap well and had studied a way to cheat the system. From her pocket she took out a blue stone: it was a magical object that she had created inside which she had inserted the spell necessary to deactivate the freezing ray. Creating it had been a very complicated process, but in the end she was able to cast it. She activated it and at the same time recited the necessary spell to deactivate the fire magic. It worked: the barrier collapsed completely without any traps activating.

Now apparently there was nothing to protect the case, but Maldor knew it was actually a trick: the case was in fact a magical object that shielded the magic contained within. An ordinary thief would have opened it without realizing anything and in doing so would have activated the protection spell. Maldor didn't know exactly what such a spell would do, but it sure wasn't a good thing; however, she knew how to turn it off and that was enough. The spell was powered by a magical stone located within the pedestal upon which the reliquary stood; Maldor had only to flow her mana inside and sever the connection between the stone and the case, nullifying the protection magic. At that point she was finally able to open the display case.

Maldor was able to take the portable gate; she did it very delicately, fearing to break it in the process. She couldn't repress a smile of joy: it was finally in her hands. All she had to do now was walk out of the academy and make her way to the arena, and then she'd be able to hug her brother again.

"I was sure that was your goal"

Maldor spun around; in a corner of the laboratory Isaac had appeared, with a magical staff pointed at her. "Do you like it? It's an elf staff. We bought it thirty years ago and we still barely know how it works. Even I don't exactly know what it does. Don't make me try it"

Maldor blushed; her heart skipped a beat after she saw the human. She hadn't expected Isaac to ambush her like that! In fact, she really didn't expect to meet him! Her hands trembled slightly. Why was she shaking? She had no reason to be afraid, he couldn't hurt her real body, and anyway at the moment she was the one with the advantage: not only had she already exchanged her heart for one possessing a level adamantium mana core, higher than Isaac's level mithril, but she could also simply have used the rune of invisibility to create an illusion of herself with which to deceive the man while she was invisible behind him and eliminated him with a single blow. She, currently, was the one who literally had all the chances to win. But then, why were her hands shaking? Why did she feel bad knowing that Isaac had discovered her? Why did she stand still instead of taking action and eliminating him immediately?

"You were far too interested in that item. I understand it was what you were aiming to steal, so I was sure you'd be here" Isaac continued. "I assume it's a weapon, am I right?"

'Uh? Did he know I wanted to steal it?' Maldor thought confused. She didn't expect Isaac to have guessed her plan to steal the portable gate beforehand. It had always seemed to her that she didn't suspect anything. "Do you want to hit me?" she asked looking at the staff in her hands. She couldn't understand: why had she asked that question, and why the waiting for the answer made her so anxious?

Isaac was silent for a moment, then he shook his head. "No. I don't want to hit you, Maldor. But I will if it will be necessary. I can't get you out of here, not with that. I can't endanger my country" he replied. Evidently he really believed the portable gate was a weapon. Well, that was to be expected since humans knew basically nothing about fairy magic.

Maldor felt oddly relieved that Isaac didn't want to hit her. She wondered if she should tell him what the portable gate really was, but she dismissed the thought: it was too dangerous. "I mean no harm to you or anyone else. Step aside, Isaac. I will leave here today, and you have my word you will never see me again. You will not endanger anyone"

Isaac grit his teeth, and Maldor could see he was perspiring. It was as if the man didn't know exactly what to do. Which was strange: Isaac should have been very clear on what to do when he had ambushed her. By the way, why hadn't he just attacked her from behind instead of announcing himself? It would have been much more practical and safer. It was almost as if he wanted her to know he was there…

And then, Isaac said something Maldor hadn't expected: "It doesn't have to end like this. Please put that weapon back, go out and stop the hostilities. Whatever the problem is, we can talk about it"

Maldor looked at him in utter confusion, not believing what she had just heard. When she was able to accept the fact that Isaac had actually said it, she couldn't suppress a sad chuckle. "Seriously? You didn't just attack me... for this? What do you expect, for me now to abandon the plan I've been studying for weeks to… what? Go out there and say to Hara and Bump and everybody else 'oh sorry, it was my fault, now we can all be friends again'? Come on, even you should hear how ridiculous this sounds! Besides, why would you expect me to do such a thing?"

"Because I know you don't want this!" Isaac exclaimed. "Maldor… listen to me, please. You are a good person, I know. And I know you love live here, I could see it in your smile, in your demeanor, in your way of talking. No one can pretend so well. I know you love the students, otherwise you wouldn't have got them to safety as soon as things got dangerous. And I... I don't want you to abandon all of this. I don't know what you need that weapon for, or what you plan to do, but I doubt your happiness is worth it. Nothing should be more important than your happiness! You shouldn't throw it away!"

Maldor instinctively tightened her fingers against the portable gate, thankfully stopping herself before breaking it. Why was she still there? Why did she keep listening to Isaac? Why did her legs refuse to move and run away? Why was she wasting so much precious time? And why did she suddenly feel so… bad? "I have happiness even outside this academy" she tried to say.

"Really? Because it doesn't look that way to me at all" Isaac replied. "When I saw you in the corridors this morning, not even three hours ago, you seemed to shine for how bright your smile was. You walked with confidence and it was like seeing a goddess moving among mortals. You looked at your students with love and pride and nothing seemed to disturb your happiness. Now it's as if your light has gone out. As if all that happiness has vanished. As if the magnificent goddess you were has lost all her grace and warmth. Now, if I try to look into your eyes, they are dull and empty, and there is not a single hint of a smile on your face. I don't know why you are doing this, but I seriously doubt it makes you happy!"

Maldor shivered slightly. Why did Isaac's every word seem like it was literally hitting her? It was as if they took shape and slapped her, or turned into arrows and pierced her body in various places... especially her heart.

Isaac lowered his staff slightly. "Maldor, I'm your friend. I know you don't want this! Trust me! Everyone will forgive you if you stop, just like I have already forgiven you! You can still be who you really want to be!"

Those words triggered something inside Maldor. Suddenly it was as if a fire had lit in her. "I can't be who I want to be, Isaac!" she almost shouted. "I don't have a choice!"

"Maldor, please! There is always a choice!" Isaac tried to tell her, but it only made her more angry.

"Not for me! I've never had a choice!" Maldor screamed again. "I never decided how to live my life! This damned world always decided it for me! I can't change! I can't be different! I will always be..."

"Maldor, I know that you are a dragon!"

Silence fell between the two. It took Maldor a moment to comprehend what Isaac had just said. When she succeeded, her eyes became the size of two bowls and a whisper escaped her mouth.

"What...?"